


on your good authority

by injeong



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur is the captain of a spaceship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, From a tumblr prompt somewhere, Good Morgana (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, It was meant to be fluff and crack but it got dark somehow, M/M, Merlin is that random guy who keeps coming aboard without permission, Misunderstandings, Nobody likes him, STOP BOARDING MY SHIP WITHOUT AUTHORISATION, Uther is a jerk, i think, scifi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25676314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/injeong/pseuds/injeong
Summary: Arthur Pendragon is the captain of one of Camelot's spaceships, Avalon. Merlin is the stranger who keeps coming aboard his ship without his permission.At first, it's a harmless annoyance. But as time goes on, more secrets will be revealed, and some truths will need to come to the light.(Merlin SciFi AU)
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 145





	on your good authority

The first time it happened, Arthur almost shot him. 

After all, Merlin was technically an intruder. And for Arthur, manning a spacecraft in the empty nothingness between two galaxies and responsible for the lives of his crew, intruders meant danger. It only took a single noise, an empty tin of grease clattering to the floor in the loading bay that _should_ have been empty, for Arthur to whip out his blaster and fire several bolts of energy towards the direction of the noise. 

He didn't expect the startled yelp and muffled thump that came after. 

"Show yourself," he demanded, seconds away from triggering the ship's alarm. "Don't make any sudden movements. I will shoot." 

There was another thump, and a muffled curse. 

"You already shot," an annoyed voice replied from somewhere behind the crates. Arthur made a mental note to remind Gwaine to clear those out. He had an irritating habit of not unloading their cargo until the hours before the next shipment arrived. 

"That's because you're a stranger and you boarded my ship without authorisation. Who are you?" 

"Oh," the voice said, and swore again. From the other side of the room, something shuffled around behind the cover of the large boxes. " _You're_ the captain of this junk?" 

"Avalon is not a _junk_ ," Arthur protests, the tip of his blaster dipping slightly. "She's a high-end state of the art warcraft, commissioned from Camelot's -" 

"Junk," the voice dismissed. "You do have an engineer, don't you? What on earth are they doing? It's a wreck." 

Arthur opened his mouth to protest again, then realised it was probably not a good idea to continue to engage in a conversation with an unknown intruder. Shaking himself, he raised his weapon. 

"Step out where I can see you," he commanded instead. "I'll trigger the alarm if you don't. You don't want to face off with my entire crew." 

The owner of the voice grumbled something under their breath, and then there was a dark shape moving out of the shadows, hands raised in a please-don't-shoot-me manner. Arthur kept his blaster trained on the figure, his eyes sweeping the rest of the loading bay in case there were more. It wasn't unheard of for pirates to send in a scout to keep the captain distracted while the rest of them attacked the rest of the ship. Slowly, the figure shuffled into the view of the bright lights glaring down from the ceiling, glaring at Arthur the entire while.

"You're not very welcoming," he complained. He didn't seem to have any weapons. Arthur lowered his blaster, stepping closer. 

"You're a human," he noted. The stranger rolled his eyes. 

"What did you expect, tentacles?" 

"Not really, but nothing really surprises you after ten years in space." Arthur took another step closer, examining the intruder. Now that he looked, the stranger really didn't look dangerous at all - a young human, probably younger than Arthur, bright blue eyes and a mop of dark hair. He was dressed simply, not unlike the civilian workers Arthur saw on interstellar trade ports, a simple brown jacket and a threadbare red scarf dangling loosely around his throat. 

The stranger caught him staring, and raised an eyebrow. 

"Interested?" he said suggestively, and Arthur went red. 

"Shut up. No." He sighed, replacing his blaster in the holster, and retrieved a set of handcuffs from his pocket. "Put these on. I'm putting you in the brig until we find out where you came from." 

"My pleasure, sire." 

"Shut _up_." 

To Arthur's great dismay, his entire crew fell in love with the intruder at first sight. 

"Oh, _dear_ ," gushed Gwen, fussing over him like a mother hen despite having never seen the boy before. "Arthur, who is this? Why didn't you tell us we have a guest?" 

_Guest, my ass_. Arthur scowled. Beside him, the intruder waved the best he could with the handcuffs restricting his movements, and flashed a sunny smile. 

"Hi! I'm Merlin! Arthur tried to shoot me." 

Raising his voice above the swell of protests from his crew, Arthur objected, "He was an intruder! Lancelot, run some facial recognition checks. If he's a criminal, I'm blowing him out of the airlock." 

Merlin turned to look at him in horror. 

"I'm joking," he replied, feebly. Merlin gave him a scrutinising look. "... mostly," Arthur finished. "I don't even know who you are, don't look at me like that." 

"Well, I know who you're _not_. A decent person." 

A prickle of irritation swept over him. "I'm the captain of this ship and you will address me so. With _respect._ " 

In response, Merlin stuck out his tongue and let Lancelot lead him away. Arthur watched despairingly as the chief engineer started chatting away happily with the intruder, looking as if they had been friends for years. Gwaine popped up at his shoulder. 

"Hey, princess. You don't mind if I ...?" 

Gwaine proceeded to make a series of explicit gestures that made Arthur blush. 

" _Stars_ , no. Gwaine. Gwaine, you are not allowed to shag the unknown intruder. _Gwaine_ -" 

  
After finding no matches in the system, Arthur's suspicion of Merlin only grew. It was bad enough that Merlin had managed to charm his entire crew, even Kilgharrah, the cat of a questionable alien species that they had managed to pick up somehow on one of their expeditions. Arthur just couldn't get a read on him. He didn't seem like a pirate, unarmed and defenceless-looking as he was, and his general clumsiness ruled out the possibility of him being a soldier sent from one of the intergalactic militaries. He might have been a space traveller, a wanderer moving from system to system and picking up various different types of work to sustain their lifestyle, but that wouldn't explain the lack of records. 

"Can't a man have his privacy?" Merlin had stated simply, when Arthur asked. "I don't go around asking you which solar system you grew up in and where you went to school." 

"That's nowhere near the same," retorted Arthur. He'd locked Merlin in the brig for general safety reasons, but irritatingly, the man looked completely at home. "Officially, you don't exist. I want to know why." 

Merlin crossed his arms, glaring. "None of your business, Captain Prat."

"You pose a threat to my ship and my crew. If you don't tell me who you are, I'm going to have to hand you over to the authorities, and trust me - their clearance is higher than mine. They'll find out who you are." 

At the mention of the authorities, the first flicker of doubt passed Merlin's face. 

"You wouldn't," he said. 

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?" 

"What if I told you I don't have any records _because_ of the authorities?" 

That made Arthur pull up short. "What?" 

Merlin refused to answer any more questions, instead busying himself with the snacks that Gwen and Morgana snuck into the brig. Arthur left with more questions that he had started out with. 

"He's a criminal," he complained to Leon, his co-captain. "That's the only explanation. I need to get word out to Camelot, or to the nearest settlement." Despite his words, however, Arthur grudgingly accepted that he had no intention of doing so. Not yet, at least. 

"Maybe," Leon said absently, busying himself with mapping out a new route to their next destination. "Do what you think is best, Arthur. We'll follow you." 

"You're not helping at all, you know?" Arthur grumbled, slumping over the navigating deck. "How did he even get in? We didn't get any readings of passing ships." 

Leon glanced at him. "We found his vessel. It's tiny and looks like he made it out of scrap parts - I'm surprised that it even survived long enough to reach us. He must have come from Gamiuq. It's the closest planet from here." 

"It's uninhabited, though. What was he doing there?" 

For that, Leon had no answer. 

  
"Princess!" Gwaine yelled down the corridor, startling Arthur out of his nap. "Arthur! Come here!" 

"What?" Arthur shouted back, blearily staring down the corridor at Gwaine's waving arms. 

"It's Merlin! He's gone!" 

_Oh, stars._ Arthur forced himself to stand, hurrying clumsily down the hall and towards the brig. Most of his crew had already arrived, crowding curiously around the empty room. Pushing his way to the front, Arthur looked at the scene. 

"How?" he managed to get out. 

His crew just looked at him blankly. 

"He took the handcuffs with him," Percival noted. "Can't we track them?" 

"I tried," said Lancelot, holding up his ancient-looking computer. "He must have turned it off somehow." 

"We're in the middle of nowhere. There isn't another settlement or planet for miles - where does he plan on going?" 

Leon tapped his shoulder. "Arthur? We have his photo on the system. Should we sent out a message?" 

_"What if I told you I don't have any records because of the authorities?"_

_It's been only one day_ , Arthur thought heavily, resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands. 

"No," he said finally. "Don't bother. With any luck, this'll be the last we hear from him." 

  
It was not the last they heard from him. 

Avalon had arrived only a few hours out of schedule at their destination, and while the rest of his crew spilled eagerly out of the ship to stock up on food and clothes and to spend time exploring another planet, Arthur had stayed behind, guarding the ship and dozing off in front of the main console. It had been a week since Merlin's sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance, and yet he still remained, annoyingly persistent, on Arthur's mind. 

"Wow," a voice piped up from behind him. "Gwaine was right. You really are no fun." 

"Shut up," Arthur grumbled in reply, then he processed the voice and leapt out of his seat like he had been electrocuted. His hand had reached for his blaster, but he didn't draw it. There, sitting on the navigation deck and sipping a brightly coloured drink, was Merlin. 

"Hi," Merlin said brightly. Arthur gaped. 

" _You_?" 

What. Arthur's brain whirled. How had he found them so quickly? Had he never left? Had Merlin been hiding on their ship the entire time? That shouldn't be possible - Lancelot kept extensive checks on the use of their life support systems, and Avalon wasn't using any more power than normal. Had he attached himself somehow to the side of the ship? Planted a tracker, perhaps? 

"Me," Merlin confirmed cheerfully. "I say, it's only been a week but it feels like such a long time. How've you been?" 

Arthur stared at him wordlessly. Seemingly noticing his confusion and panic, Merlin waved a hand dismissively. 

"I'm not spying on you, or anything," he said easily. "Gwaine just hinted at where your next destination was. He wanted to take me out for a drink." 

"No," Arthur said immediately. Merlin quirked an eyebrow, sipping at his drink. (It was a bright shade of purple. Arthur could have sworn it had been orange a minute ago -) 

"No? Why? You jealous?" 

Spluttering, Arthur angrily stuffed his blaster back into the holster and rounded on Merlin. " _No_ ," he said again. "Where did you come from, anyway? You never answered any of my questions." 

"Don't worry," said Merlin, grinning. "I like Gwaine, but he's not my type." 

"That's not what I asked -" 

There was a beeping sound, and Arthur realised in dismay that the rest of his crew had boarded the ship again. Merlin perked up as the door hissed and opened. 

"Hi!" he cried happily, and Gwaine let out a whoop. 

Leon, noticing his captain's hopeless look, shot him a sympathetic smile. 

The door to his quarters burst open and Arthur startled, reaching instinctively for the nearest weapon, only to falter as Merlin poked his head inside curiously. 

"This is where you sleep?" he said. "Wow. It's very ... grand." 

Stifling a groan, Arthur flopped back onto his bed. 

"Stop boarding my ship without my authorisation," he complained half-heartedly. This time, it had only been five days since their last meeting. Merlin had ended up extending their stay on the planet, bar-hopping with Gwaine and shopping with Gwen and Morgana and spending a lengthy three hours discussing mechanics with Lancelot ("I was exaggerating when we first met, Avalon isn't a wreck and Lancelot is actually doing a very good job keeping her in shape!") and doing goodness knows what else. Arthur was starting to give up. (He still hadn't reported Merlin. He didn't even know why he didn't - somehow, that irritated him beyond all else.) 

"What authorisation?" Merlin said innocently. "Morgana let me in." 

Of course Morgana did. Sometimes, it felt like Morgana and Merlin were more sibling-like than Morgana and Arthur. 

"It _is_ illegal," tried Arthur. Merlin only laughed, closing the door behind him and starting to prod around Arthur's personal belongings. 

"As if that's stopped me before." 

"So you _are_ a criminal!" 

"You stream old Earth TV shows illegally. So are you." 

Going red, Arthur snatched up the nearest object - a pen - and threw it at Merlin. "I was sixteen! Everyone did that!" 

Merlin ducked, and the pen sailed overhead and hit the opposite wall with a thunk. Arthur scowled.

"How do you even keep doing that?" he protested. "Lancelot isn't an incompetent engineer, and Gwaine notices things from a mile away - can you teleport? How do you manage to just appear on our ship when we're cruising in between entire galaxies?" 

Grinning, Merlin wiggled his fingers. "Magic." 

"I hate you." 

"You're just jealous because I'm a better spaceman than you are." 

Gaping, Arthur stared up at him in shock. "You are _not_." 

"I am too." 

Arthur picked up a stray battery pack and threw it at Merlin. This time, it bounced off his shoulder, and Merlin spun around, surprised. 

" _Ow_." 

Satisfied, Arthur settled back onto his bed, grabbing his datapad and flicking through the reports he was meant to be reading. Merlin pouted at him for a few minutes before grumbling something under his breath and leaving the room. (Arthur found out later that he had gone and complained to Gwen when she burst into his room an hour later asking him if he had been abusing Merlin.) 

"What - oh. _Stars_ , Merlin, don't just -" 

Arthur lowered the blaster again, the adrenaline ebbing away. Merlin, grinning and looking like he hadn't almost been gunned down, waved. 

"You should really stop trying to shoot me every time we meet," he said happily. "One of these days, you might actually not miss." 

"One of these days, you should stop breaking into my ship without my permission," Arthur retorted. "Why don't you just sign on as a member of the crew, you seem to spend more time with them than I do myself these days." 

"That's just because I'm fun to be around and you're a clotpole," chirped Merlin, swinging down from the ceiling of the loading bay and landing deftly on the floor. They were in the middle of two planetary systems again. At this point, Arthur had almost just given up on trying to figure out how Merlin managed to board their ship each time. He sighed and replaced his blaster at his hip, walking towards the door. A light pattering of footsteps told him that Merlin was following.

"Clotpole isn't a word," he complained. "What are you, an old Earther? Describe _clotpole_." 

"In two words?" 

"Yes." 

"Captain Arthur." 

Merlin laughed and dodged as Arthur tried to throw the nearest object (his datapad) at him. The two of them headed towards the lunch room, where Gwen and Morgana were, and ran into Gwaine on the way. His face lit up at the sight of Merlin. 

"Merlin! Hey!" 

"Gwaine!" 

Gwaine laughed, slinging an arm over Merlin's shoulder. Arthur stuffed down the irrational twinge of jealousy he felt at the action. 

"Nice of you to join us again. Arthur was getting miserable since you left." 

_Oh, no._ Arthur blanched. 

"I was not," he protested futilely. Gwaine snickered, and Merlin - 

Merlin went red. 

"Arthur?" 

"He was," insisted Gwaine, delighted. "Whenever you're not here, he gets all grumpy and gives us ten times more work! Now that you're here, he's going to be so much better. Do us all a favour and just stay, will you?" 

"I do _not_ -" 

Oh, great. Now Merlin was staring up at Arthur in confusion and embarrassment. Arthur turned away, painfully aware of his face starting to heat up, and mumbled some excuse before darting away to the engine rooms. He slipped through the crack in the door and sat down in a heap by the wall. Lancelot stuck his head out and gave him a pitying look. 

"I don't get miserable when Merlin's not here," Arthur complained. He could, at least, trust Lancelot to be sincere and truthful about these sorts of things. Lancelot was a sensible fellow. "I don't, do I? Gwaine's just -" 

Lancelot winced. 

"Um, actually, Arthur, you sort of -" 

Okay, it was mutiny, then. Arthur groaned, burying his face in his arms. 

"I don't," he whined. That was ridiculous. "He's - we barely know him, for goodness' sake! He still breaks the law every time he enters the ship! He has no records and he could be a mass murderer for all we know -" 

But he was also lively and funny and somehow managed to make Arthur feel more human than he'd ever felt before, and Arthur only had to hear Merlin's voice or see the sparkle of his blue eyes for the heavy weight on his shoulders to lighten, and those dark, cold, empty fathoms of space seemed to feel like home whenever Merlin was there -

Lancelot patted him on the shoulder consolingly, and Arthur wanted to cry. 

"Stars," he said helplessly. "I _do_ like him." 

" _Like_ probably isn't strong enough a word," murmured Lancelot, and Arthur shot him a betrayed look. 

  
Needless to say, the revelation made Arthur fidgety for the rest of the day. Gwaine kept pretending to call to Merlin just to see Arthur go red, Morgana filled up his inbox with corny love quotes, Gwen kept slipping him heart-shaped cookies, and the rest of the crew were just being generally unbearable. (He loved them, he really did, but sometimes they made him feel like abandoning ship.) 

Merlin, seemingly, didn't notice a thing. Which, of course, made it even worse, because he was chattering away to Arthur like nothing had changed, except everything had changed and now Arthur was struck dumb with the way the light from the passing nebula lit up Merlin's features in a dazzling array of colours, or found himself blatantly staring at the curve of his shoulder as he helped Lancelot tinker with the ship's engines, and wondering how such a small body could fill the entire ship with his presence. 

"You're so sappy," Morgana laughed, smacking his arm. "It's adorable. Prince Charming." 

Arthur was too distracted by Merlin's laugh to bother telling her to shut up. 

"It's not like anything can happen," he said morosely. 

Morgana frowned, puzzled. "Why not?" 

"Well, for one, we _still_ don't know anything about him." Arthur ticked off the reasons on his fingers. "He has no records, he hides himself wherever he goes, I have a responsibility to Camelot and the empire to ensure my people's safety and I can't exactly do that when I'm ... distracted. He just - he has so many secrets, Morgana. I want to trust him, but how can I, when he's still a stranger?" 

For once, Morgana seemed to understand, sighing and placing a comforting hand on his arm. 

"Trust your heart," she says. "Sometimes people don't hide secrets because they want to. They have secrets because they have to." 

She almost looked like she knew something more, but Arthur chose not to question it. 

  
Almost as if things weren't complicated enough already, Avalon received a summoning from Camelot the day after. Merlin, thankfully, chose to stay on board for a while longer, and Arthur tried to ignore how relieved he felt. His father himself had asked Arthur to meet with him on Camelot's station, of _"Matters of high importance."_ It didn't bode well. 

"It's probably just another checkup," Leon said worriedly. "Some system changes, perhaps. Don't worry." 

Meetings with his father were never just simple checkups. 

Merlin picked up on his anxiety too, tagging after him as he paced around the ship. 

"It'll be fine," he said brightly. "Come on. Big strong space captain like you shouldn't be scared." 

"Big strong space captain." Arthur snorted, and Merlin brightened. 

"You're right, you're not that big. I think I'm taller than you, actually. Also, notice how I left out "clever"? Because, you know, let's be honest, Gwen and Morgana are the only ones with functioning brain cells on his ship - apart from me, of course -" 

_Stop cheering me up so easily,_ Arthur mentally complained. He fought (and failed) to keep the smile off his face. 

"Are you staying on the ship, then?" he asked. "We'll be touching down on Camelot in a day. The rest of the crew are going to go exploring." 

Merlin's expression flickered with something like fear, but it was gone before Arthur could make sure. "I think I'll stay in the ship. Someone has to look after it, and big planets are too easy to get lost in." 

"Camelot isn't that _big_ , have you ever been to Xanruna?" 

"Xanruna doesn't count, that thing is an anomaly -" 

Uther's face was grave when Arthur walked into the room. It only made his nerves worse. 

"Father," Arthur said, inclining his head slightly. Uther waved a hand, gesturing for him to take a seat. 

"Arthur. I'll keep this simple. There have been sightings of a certain wanted man on Nagiri and I need to know if you have seen him." 

"Nagiri?" That was the planet they were on just recently, before coming to Camelot. Arthur frowned. "Why? Are they dangerous?" 

Uther didn't answer, instead pulling up a holographic profile from the tabletop. The word "Confidential" were printed in large letters on the top of the projection, and the photo - 

The photo was of Merlin. 

His heart dropped, and he fought to keep his face impassive. 

"I haven't seen him," he said evenly. "What did he do?" 

Again, Uther avoided the question. "If you see the man, you are to shoot on sight. Do not let him speak to anyone. Do not listen to anything he says." 

Arthur scanned the profile. It was largely empty, large parts left blank. Race, human. Planet of birth, Serceria. A few qualifications - one in engineering, one in telecommunications, a small list of family members, all deceased. Other than that, nothing. 

Uther sighed, sitting down. Arthur stiffened. 

"There is ... something I must tell you," his father said. 

_More secrets, A_ rthur thought hysterically. _Great. Wonderful._

"What do you know of the planet Serceria?" 

Arthur shrugged minutely. "A small planet," he replied robotically. "Part of the Albion solar system, neighbour to Camelot. There was a large settlement there, once, but they were wiped out." 

Slowly, Uther shook his head. 

"Sercerians were a barbaric race," he said seriously. "Their planet was being torn apart in civil war, and when we - Camelot - tried to intervene and help, they turned on us, staging a deadly rebellion and almost decimating our people. They were posing a threat to the rest of the system, and we had a responsibility to stop the fighting." 

Merlin was Sercerian. 

"These people, Arthur, were not natural," Uther continued, and it felt like the temperature of the room was steadily dropping. "They have abilities, psychic abilities, abilities that corrupt them with unfair power. They are manipulative, and their abilities allow them to read, control, and redirect the thoughts of their enemies. They can trick you into trusting them, even when you shouldn't, and they will use that against you."

_Merlin was Sercerian._

Uther's face seemed to spasm momentarily, before he said finally, "A Sercerian doctor killed your mother." 

Something inside Arthur shattered. 

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" he said quietly. "You never mentioned my mother." 

"You were too young," Uther replied. "But now you are grown, and you have turned into a fine captain and spaceman. I want you to continue the fight. The war against the Sercerians. Most of them were captured or killed, but some escaped, and they are out there, in the galaxy, and if we don't track them down and stop them, they will spread their influence, using their powers, and they will turn the entire galaxy on itself. They must be stopped." 

Uther's rare compliment simply passed over Arthur's head. 

Merlin was Sercerian, he thought, devastated. 

_They can trick you into trusting them, even when you shouldn't ..._

That was all it was? Merlin had somehow manipulated his entire crew and - and then what? What was he going to use them for? Avalon was a warship. He could have used them for anything. 

Uther continued to talk, and Arthur only barely heard him. 

  
The rest of the crew had already returned when Arthur marched onto the ship, furious. He rounded on Merlin, who was sitting by the main console and watching him in confusion. 

"Out," he snapped. Gwaine stood up, alarmed. 

"Mate, what are you -" 

"We can't trust him." Arthur drew his blaster and trained it on Merlin, and there was a flurry of movement and noise as the rest of his crew stood up, startled. 

Merlin looked fearfully up at him, and Arthur ignored the fluttering of guilt in his stomach. "Arthur, what are you -" 

"Tell me," he said coldly, "Why my father has issued an order for me to shoot you on sight." 

The room fell silent. Leon's hand drifted towards his own weapon, and he looked on in confusion. 

"Arthur," he said slowly. "Explain." 

"That's why you weren't on the records," Arthur continued, ignoring his co-captain. "You used your powers illegally. You committed crimes against Camelot and the Albion system. You fled your planet after the rebellion was suppressed by our army." He wondered how his voice managed to keep so steady, when the rest of him felt like breaking apart. "You are a threat to this ship and everyone on it." 

"That's ridiculous," cried Gwen, catching Arthur's arm. "Put the gun down, there must have been a mistake -" 

"I saw him," said Arthur calmly. "My father showed me. I'm not wrong.

Merlin had stood up, paling. 

"Arthur," he said tremulously. "Arthur, please, you're wrong, Uther was lying -" 

Every instinct screamed for Arthur to believe him. But how could he? After what he learned?

"Who am I meant to trust?" he answered bitterly. "My father? Or you, a stranger I know nothing about?" 

_You, who I'm not even sure I loved of my own accord._

Lancelot has edged in front of Merlin, half-shielding him from view, and so had Gwaine. 

"Arthur," he said calmly. "Think, will you?" 

_I can't._

Shoot him on sight. His father's words echoed in his brain, circulating torturously. _A Sercerian doctor killed your mother._

His fingers tightened around the blaster, and after a few, stretched seconds, he lowered it, arms trembling slightly. 

"Go," he said, and Merlin froze. 

"What? Arthur -" 

"I said go." He turned around, not wanting to face him, to face his crew. "I won't shoot you if you leave now. If I see you again, I won't hesitate." 

"Please -" 

Merlin faltered at Arthur's silence. There was a murmur of voices, worried, angry, confused, and when Arthur turned around again, Merlin was gone. 

  
There was a strained sort of silence around the ship in the days following the event. Gwaine didn't speak to him for at least a week, and even Lancelot had started treating him with a sort of cool, indifferent respect that made him feel uncomfortable. 

"What would you have done?" Arthur asked uncertainly to Leon. "I don't ... should I have sent him away?" 

Leon stopped tapping at the console, and looked towards Arthur thoughtfully. 

"Your father is the leader of an empire," he said slowly. "Thus, his word is to be followed, and he should be trusted to have the best interests of his people at heart." 

"But you don't think he could have been wrong?" 

Leon didn't answer. 

Morgana found him in his rooms, staring sullenly at the sparse profile of Merlin that his father had shown him. She sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Uther isn't right about everything," she said simply. Arthur felt another stab of guilt. 

"So you think I shouldn't have sent him away." 

"You did what you thought was right." 

Arthur shook his head. "I didn't - Morgana, they could control us. The Sercerians - Father said that they could manipulate our minds, our emotions. I thought that whatever I felt, it was his doing, I didn't have a choice -" 

Morgana squeezed his hand. "Uther _said_ they could control us." 

_Uther was lying_ , her eyes said. Merlin's last words to him ring in his head.

_"Arthur, please, you're wrong, Uther was lying -"_

"He wouldn't lie," Arthur said resolutely. "Not to me. Not about this." _Not about my mother._

Morgana just gave him a pitying look, and left. 

Arthur figured that after he made Merlin leave, they would never see each other again. There was a sort of cold hurt about the fact, and he didn't want to dwell on it, instead burying himself into reports and statistics and interstellar politics so that he wouldn't have to think. A day passed, then a week, and then another, and all the while he couldn't forget, but he had started to give up. 

_It's easier this way_ , he told himself. _If he never comes back. It would mean Father was right, that I was right._

Of course, the universe never made things that easy. A month later, drifting through the outer reaches of a neighbouring galaxy, the main console lit up with a flashing notification. Leon pulled up a screen. 

"A distress signal," he said. Arthur frowned. The nearest planets were well populated, but they were still far away, out of the reach of mainstream trade routes and travelling streams. 

"Check if there are any other ships nearby," Arthur replied. "See if they got the distress signal too, if they're closer -" 

Lancelot shook his head, his brow furrowing. "No, Arthur. This signal is using Avalon's private communication line - whoever it is, they have the passcode." 

_Avalon's?_

"What?" Arthur headed over to the main deck, staring at the blinking spot of red light on the radar. "But that's impossible. The passcode is only known to us, and -" 

"Merlin," Gwaine breathed. "We - I gave it to him, in case - it's him, he's in trouble -" 

Arthur stared in muted shock at the display. 

Leon, concerned, spoke up. "Arthur? What should we -" 

"Can you set up a communication line? I want to see if it's him." 

By now, the rest of the crew had silently filtered into the room. Leon tapped a series of buttons on the console, and a screen blinked into existence. A painfully familiar face came into view. 

"Arthur," Merlin said, quietly. His voice sounded strange - whether it was the static, or something else, Arthur couldn't tell. He moved into view, closer to the screen. 

"I told you that if I saw you again, I would shoot you," he returned. Gwaine sent him a warning look, which he ignored. Merlin just huffed out a laugh - he looked exhausted, Arthur noticed, his clothes dark with grime and dust. 

"Can't shoot me through a holographic screen, can you?" 

Despite himself, Arthur felt the corner of his mouth twitching upwards. He did miss him, missed his retorts and jokes. 

Then he remembered what his father had told him, and he felt the hint of a smile slip from his face. 

"What do you want," he said monotonously. Merlin's eyes were still dazzling, even over the flickering holographic screen. 

"Would you believe me if I said I wanted to see you again?" 

_Manipulating_ , he tried to remind himself, but he couldn't stop the painful comfort that washed over him.

"No. If that's all you called for, I'm cutting the link." 

At that, Merlin's face dropped. 

"No, wait. Please. I did send a distress signal for a reason." 

Arthur waited, and Merlin's expression twisted with something like guilt. 

"I - I'm sorry, about this. I didn't know who else to go to." 

Gwaine stepped into view, not-so-subtly bumping into Arthur on the way. "Merlin? What's wrong?" 

Through the screen, Merlin took another shuddering breath, and Arthur realised with a jolt why his voice sounded odd. His breathing was laboured, like the air in his ship was becoming sparse. 

"I was attacked, by one of Camelot's ships. I escaped, but my transport isn't in good shape," Merlin said. "The life support systems failed. I have about one hour of oxygen left, maybe less." 

Beside him, Gwaine swore softly. 

"Where are you? I'll go -" 

"No," Merlin hurried. "No, it - that's too dangerous. I don't know if ... if they still have me on their radar, I didn't have time to make sure. Don't come. If ... if you have a spare fuel cell, or something, you could just eject it and leave, and I'll find it, and if it's enough I'll harness if and make it back to Uhirir, it's only a short while from here -" he paused, his breathing now audibly strained. "Nobody will be able to trace it back to you, I promise. I'll take another transport, somewhere far away, you won't ... you won't have to see me again ..." 

Arthur tried to speak and found himself unable to. His blood thundered in his ears, and a multitude of thoughts flashed rapidly across his mind. He was only able to make sense of a few of them. Something clutched at him, but whether it was fear or anger, at himself or at Merlin, he didn't know.

At his silence, Merlin's face fell, and he gave a wry smile. 

"Never mind," he said. "I shouldn't have asked. Don't worry. I think ... I think I'll just try and make it to Uhirir without it, I could ... divert the energy away from the non-essential systems ..." he trailed off, pain flashing across his face as his hand drifted absently towards his throat. "Don't worry," he said again. His voice was breathy and barely audible. "It'll be fine. Goodbye." 

Before he could answer, the screen blinked and disappeared. 

Leon turned around, ashen. "Arthur -" 

"Lancelot," Arthur said, finding his voice again. Something sharp and panicky was flowing through his veins. "Do you -?" 

"I have his location," confirmed Lancelot, his gaze steady. Arthur nodded, moving towards the flight deck. 

"Turn Avalon around. We're going to get him back." 

The transport that settled Avalon's hanger was tiny, a small, ancient-looking thing. It was a wonder, Arthur thought, that Merlin had even managed to get it off the ground in the first place, let alone sustained it long enough to reach the outer regions of the system. 

"Arthur," Lancelot said, glancing anxiously between Arthur and the hangar doors. "Do you think -?" 

He didn't finish the sentence, and Arthur turned around. The transport had lost all motor function, according to Lancelot, and had just been hanging, dead in space, until Gwaine manoeuvred the Avalon around it, swallowing it in one of its empty hangars. 

The doors to the hangar slid shut, and after the initial hiss of the stabilising pressure, Arthur opened the door and entered, running towards the silent transport. The transport remained silent, and Arthur ducked inside, his heart thudding anxiously. The air was painfully thin and suffocating. 

"Merlin," he called. There was no answer, and Arthur headed further inside, towards the cockpit. The emergency lights lights glowed dimly, barely bright enough to see. The cockpit door was open, and inside - 

A small, slight figure was slumped against the wall, unmoving. 

He swore under his breath, moving closer and dropping to his knees next to the body. Reaching out, he shook his shoulder. There was no response. 

" _Merlin_ ," he tried again, his voice rising almost desperately. Merlin didn't answer, limp and unnaturally still against Arthur's chest when he picked him up, his face pale and lips blue. Arthur couldn't tell if he was breathing. 

"Come on, don't do this to me," he muttered, almost stumbling as he carried him out. He watched as the faces of his crew changed from apprehension to horror as they approached. "Guinevere? Guinevere, I need - can you help him?" 

"On it," she said immediately, and Arthur let Leon guide him away, watching from a distance as Gwen and Morgana worked. There was a strange sort of shakiness settling in his bones. He almost felt as if his legs would give out at any moment. 

"They know what they're doing, Arthur," said Leon reassuringly. Arthur still didn't tear his eyes away, somehow unable to. "Don't worry. Lancelot and Gwaine are making sure that nobody noticed that we came through here. You should go and help them." 

"I don't -" 

Lancelot took his arm, half leading, half dragging him away. "Come," he insisted gently. "Neither of you are going to benefit from you standing aimlessly around. We could use your help." 

It had been a month since they had last seen Merlin, and none of Arthur's feelings had disappeared. He never really thought about it - he never wanted to - but the nagging suspicion had only grown larger, aided by Morgana's rather unsubtle hints that Uther couldn't be trusted. He had been so certain at first - that none of his feelings were his own, that Merlin, a Sercerian, had somehow used his powers to manipulate his emotions and thoughts into what they were, because what other explanation had there been? Arthur had never been in love, not like this, and certainly not to a stranger who kept illegally boarding his ship without authorisation and kept secrets from them all. Arthur was a logical person. It simply didn't make sense. 

But then a month passed, and he didn't see Merlin once, and the warmth that clouded his memories of Merlin never faded. Psychic powers or not, nothing could keep hold of a human mind for that long. Which left the one possibility that Arthur didn't want - that his father, somehow, for some reason, hadn't told him the truth. 

That he had sent Merlin away for no reason other than a wronged, blind faith in his father. 

He spend the next few hours with Lancelot and Gwaine, their steadfast company easing his nerves, and the menial work of checking through various registers for Avalon's name allowing his frantic thoughts to settle back into place. They hadn't been followed, and Avalon hadn't shown up on the radars of any nearby ships. For now, they were safe. 

Now, watching as Merlin shifted and mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep, Arthur waited. It had been a mistake to not listen to Merlin in the heat of his anger (his resolute stubbornness was a quality of his that Morgana both praised and criticised in equal parts) and he told himself that this time, he would listen. To everything. He didn't want to think about what he would do if Merlin confirmed that what his father had told him wasn't the truth, but anything was better than taking action to hurt innocent people in the name of a lie. 

He snapped himself out of his thoughts when he realised that a pair of bright blue eyes were gazing at him in confusion. 

Merlin was awake. 

Gwen and Morgana had repeatedly assured him that the damage was far from fatal, but nonetheless, the relief that washed over him was overpowering. 

"Merlin," he said, standing up. Merlin flinched back at the action, and he froze. 

_Right_ , he thought bitterly. _The last time I saw him, I told him I would shoot him if I ever saw him again._

"Don't worry," Arthur said, holding his hands up. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just ... I want answers." 

Merlin sat up, fumbling with the straps of the oxygen mask over his face. 

"You didn't bother listening to me before," he said hoarsely. Arthur winced. 

"Yes. I'm sorry. That was wrong of me." 

After regarding him silently for a few seconds, Merlin relaxed, seeming to realise that Arthur was being truthful. "Well, at least you realised it." He looked around. "I'm guessing I'm on Avalon? I thought I told you it was dangerous to approach my ship." 

"You seriously can't have expected me to just leave after you basically admitted that you were going to die," said Arthur crossly. He softened his voice. "Even if we did have an ... argument. And besides, Gwaine and the others would have mutinied if I didn't." 

An odd look crossed Merlin's face, and he laughed. "I'll have to thank them, then." 

They fell into a slightly more comfortable silence. Eventually Arthur cleared his throat. 

"My father told me about Serceria," he started hesitantly. Merlin turned his gaze on him. "He said you came from there, and that because of that, you were dangerous. He said that the Sercerians organised a rebellion against the Albion system that killed thousands of innocents, and he showed me the data. People like you - people who escaped - he said that they posed a threat, because of their ability, to the rest of the colonies." 

Merlin frowned. "Ability?" 

"Psychic ability. You can sense other people's thoughts, and redirect them to your liking. You can use that to forge relationships and connections against the person's will, and use them." 

There was another short silence, during which Merlin gaped at Arthur, flabbergasted. 

" _Stars_ ," he said, finally. "Is _that_ what they're saying? Seriously?" 

Blinking in confusion, Arthur tilted his head. "Is that not - is that wrong?" 

"Oh," said Merlin, realisation dawning on his face. "That's why you - you thought I had somehow manipulated you into liking me, manipulated your crew into being friends with me. That was why you were so angry, wasn't it?" At Arthur's look of doubt, Merlin chortled. "Oh. I see. That explains a lot, actually." 

Arthur looked on helplessly. "So it _is_ wrong?" 

Nodding, Merlin held his gaze. "Sercerians do have psychic abilities, but it's nowhere near as powerful as that. Nobody is as powerful as that, physics just doesn't allow it. Lots of people incorrectly refer to us as Empaths, but they're not actually far from the truth - we can _connect._ We can feel things around us - inanimate things like plants, or machine parts, and living things, like human emotions and feelings. That's why most of us become doctors or engineers. It just comes naturally to us - we can feel when something's wrong, and we'll instinctively know how to fix it." 

"So you - you weren't -" 

Merlin smiled softly. "I never did anything to make you feel things against your will, Arthur. Whatever you felt, it was all you." 

The relief both lifted his mood and soured him with guilt. 

"Then why did you rebel?" he asked, hesitant. "The Albion system was peaceful to you, they never did anything to you. How many people from Camelot died in the uprising? They just wanted to help stop the fighting, the civil war -"

At his words, Merlin's expression darkened rapidly. He reached out, grasping Arthur's hand tightly. 

"Arthur," he said quietly. " _There was never a rebellion_." 

The last of his hope in his father shattered. 

"We weren't evil," Merlin continued brokenly. "We weren't manipulative, and we didn't have the power to control people's thoughts. Our powers just made us highly empathetic, and because of that, we were a peaceful people. We couldn't do anything. If we had used our powers during Camelot's attack, the only thing we would have been able to do was feel the pain of our friends and neighbours dying. We never initiated any attack, we tried to talk to them - there wasn't any warning, the warships just came and we couldn't -" 

"Camelot attacked?" Arthur whispered, horrified. Merlin nodded, eyes glistening with a sheen of tears. 

"I lost everyone," he said. "My mother, my father, Will, Freya, Daegal, everyone - they were murdered, and we couldn't have even tried to fight back, not when they started bombing us - the fire spread too quickly, they _burned_ -" 

His voice was choked, and Arthur felt something hot searing through his heart. 

"I miss them," he whimpered, curling in on himself. "I miss them. I want to go home." 

Home. Serceria, the small planet that Arthur knew was now occupied by Camelot forces, empty and reduced to ash. 

Arthur moved closer, guiding Merlin into his arms and letting him cry. 

"I'm sorry," he said, numbly. "I'm so sorry." _For what my people did to yours. For what I did and didn't do to you. I didn't know. I was wrong._

Arthur didn't know what else to say, didn't know how to say it. There was a million thoughts crowding his mind - the pain of his father lying to him, the doubt over the circumstances of his mother's death, the beginnings of a wild plan to try and get Merlin back home, to reverse the damage his family had done to Serceria and their people, a way to keep Merlin safe. To protect him. 

Wordlessly, he kissed the top of Merlin's head. 

_One day,_ he promised. _You won't have to hide. I'll make sure of it._

A year later, Arthur was dozing off again by the windows lining the main deck of the Avalon when Gwaine's startled shout woke him up. 

"Holy stars - Arthur! Arthur, look!" 

Arthur almost fell out of his chair in his hurry to get up, fumbling for his weapon in panic before realising that the expression on Gwaine's face wasn't fear, but glee. Spinning around, he looked out of the window, to the gaping, empty blackness of space - and the small spaceship that was merrily chugging alongside the Avalon, near enough for the familiar face in the cockpit window to grin wildly and wave. Recognising him immediately, Arthur laughed in delight. 

"Leon, take care of Avalon," he said, turning and racing towards the hangar. Gwaine was close behind, stopping only to bang on the doors and yell at the rest of the crew that Merlin had returned again. 

By the time he reached the hangar, Merlin's junk of a ship had already landed, and Merlin, tugging off his helmet, was clambering awkwardly out of the small vessel, tripping over the rickety staircase and almost falling over as he spotted Arthur. His face brightened, and he ran over, bowling into Arthur and making them both tumble to the floor. 

"Hi, Arthur," he said breathlessly, his face flushed and his hair sticking up wildly in all directions from the helmet, and Arthur thought Merlin had never looked more beautiful. 

"You took your time," he replied, almost complaining. 

"You saw me only a week ago," Merlin reminded him, but he was smiling. "You missed me already?" 

Arthur pressed a quick kiss to his lips, ignoring Gwaine's teasing catcalls. "You know me. Of course I did." 

"Well, it's always nice to hear it." Merlin dragged them both to their feet, and didn't let go of his hand. "You'll be pleased to hear that I'll be staying longer this time. Aithusa is in dire need of repairs and new parts, and I've missed Avalon. I hope you kept my room?"

"I told you. You'll always have a home here, with us." 

Gwaine shoved Arthur out of the way and gave Merlin a friendly hug. "Stop hogging him. He's my friend, too." 

Merlin laughed. "I missed you too, Gwaine. Now - what was that you told me about finding an illegal way around the blocks on Strion's TV streaming service?" 

"Arthur, your boyfriend's a criminal," Lancelot said, appearing at Arthur's shoulder. He was grinning, and Arthur heaved a sigh. 

"He still hasn't ever asked legal permission to board my ship," he said under his breath. "Not _once_ , since he snuck onboard the first time." 

Hearing their conversation, Merlin flashed them a cheerful smile. "Too late," he said. "You're stuck with me now. And besides, don't complain about me sneaking on board your ship without your permission. It's how we met, isn't it? It's a tradition, I have to keep it going." 

"It's romantic," Gwen agreed. 

Arthur shook his head, feeling his expression soften. 

"Anything for him," he said, and those simple, vast words felt like nothing but the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> kinda rushed but I'm sleepy and I wanted to post it quickly haha  
> Here's some scifi merthur. I hope you enjoyed it ^^ It was fun to write! Hopefully it was fun to read. The days in quarantine are getting even longer,,, I don't even know how I'm going to be able to deal with going back to school. lolol


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